Moments of Harmoney
by the dork knight
Summary: Various one-shots of the couple that should have ended up together.
1. GoF: The Yule Ball

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does.**

**A/N:** My plan for this is a series of one shot stories where Harry and Hermione end up together. Sometimes I will take missed opportunities from the books and use them. Sometimes I will change a few things to get them together. And sometimes I will end up re-writing a good portion of canon events to make it happen.

I would also like to thank Epeefencer, who's story 'Harry loves Ginny and Ginny loves Harry' was the inspiration for me to write these series of one shot stories. If you haven't read them yet, you should check them out. They're really good.

Anyways, as they say, on with the show.

**GoF: The Yule Ball**

As Harry made his way from the Transfiguration classroom, he was grumbling about his rotten luck. It had been bad enough that this year he had been forced to complete in the Tri-Wizard Tournament after someone had put his name into the Goblet of Fire and so face had to face one of the most fearsome dragons ever. Now he had just been informed by his head of house, Professor McGonagall, that he had to attend the Yule Ball. Not only that, but he had to have a date and dance with her in the opening dance after dinner had been served.

Professor McGonagall, who like many others, had assumed Harry had a crush on Cho Chang, hinted that he should hurry and asked the Ravenclaw Seeker before someone else asked her. The problem with that was that Harry really didn't like her in that way. Yes, she was nice, and even pretty. But aside from both playing the same spot on their house teams, he really didn't know what they had in common. Anyways, the rumors of his crush on her had all been the fault of a pair of red headed twins when they jokingly made a comment during the previous year during Quidditch practice. Their then team captain, Oliver Wood had told Harry to do whatever was necessary to catch the Snitch, even if it meant knocking Cho off her broom. Harry, of course, would never do such a thing on the grounds that not only was it not fair, but it was something Slytherin would do. The twins, seeing Harry's reluctance, said that Harry probably wouldn't do it because he loved Cho. At the time it seemed funny, but now… Well, it didn't matter. There was only one witch in the entire school that he had feelings for anyways.

Eventually, Harry had made his way to the library, where he was supposed to meet up with Hermione. Madam Pince fixed him with a stern gaze the moment he entered, like she did to all students who dared to come and put their hands all over her precious books. Looking around, Harry found Hermione sitting at her usual table towards the back and quickly joined her.

"You're not going to believe what Professor McGonagall just told me," Harry said as he sat down and opened his bag to pull out his ink, quill, and some parchment. When Hermione didn't say anything, he looked up, expecting to see her lost in some text, only to find her sitting there with a shocked look on her face.

"Hermione, you okay?" Harry asked. "Did Seamus come running through here naked again?"

The bushy haired witch shook her head no, unable to speak.

"Alright," said Harry. "Um… Anyways, McGonagall told me that not only do I have to go to the Yule Ball, I have to have a date and dance. Can you believe that? It's not like I wanted to be apart of this whole tournament in the first place. So, I was thinking that…"

"," Hermione suddenly blurted out.

Harry stared at her blankly for a moment as he tried to decipher what she had just said.

"Once again," said Harry. "In English this time."

"Viktor Krum just asked me to the Yule Ball," Hermione said, this time at a much more normal pace.

"Oh," said Harry, trying not to seem like it was a big deal. "And what did you say?"

"Well, I sort of said yes," said Hermione, blushing a little bit.

Harry felt a like a pit had opened up inside of him, wincing a little at the sudden pain.

"Really?" he asked, his voice cracking slightly. Though, Hermione didn't notice do to her still being surprised by the whole thing.

"Yes," she said. "He made a very good point as to why he wanted to go with me. I couldn't exactly say no, now could I?"

"I… I, um… I guess not," said Harry.

"Anyways, enough about that," said Hermione, shaking her head to regain her focus. "What about you? Who are you going to take?"

"I don't know," said Harry as he struggled to keep the emotion out of his voice.

"Well, don't wait too long," said Hermione. "Otherwise everyone will be taken. And you, as a champion, are supposed to open the dance."

"Yeah… I know," said Harry. Though at that moment, he could care less about finding a date to the dance.

OoOoOoOoOoO

As the days went by and the time to the Yule Ball grew closer and closer, Harry had yet to find a date. The fact that he purposefully waited to ask any girl once he was sure that they had already had a date might have had something to do with it. In his mind, he didn't see the point in going as the one person he wanted to go with was going with someone else.

"What about Cho?" asked Hermione as they sat on the couch in the Gryffindor common room.

"Going with Cedric," said Harry.

"Lavender?" she asked.

"Seamus," he said.

"Parvati?"

"Ron."

"Well, how about her sister Padma?" asked Hermione.

"She's going home for the Holidays," said Harry as he leaned back and closed his eyes. "Something about not feeling well."

"Oh," she said, and went back to thinking about possible dates for her best friend. Then an idea hit her. "You know, you could ask a third year. There's no rule that says you can't."

"Like who?" asked Harry. "Aside from Ginny, I don't know any third years, and I don't feel like going with someone who just looks at me as some kind of trophy that she can show off to her friends and brag how she went with the bloody Boy-Who-Lived."

"Language," said Hermione. "So ask Ginny."

"She's going with Neville," he said.

"Since when?" asked Hermione.

"Four days ago," said Harry. "Kind of funny actually. He's been practicing his dancing in front of the mirror in the dorm room."

She tried to suppress it, but Hermione ended up giggling.

"So," Hermione said after a moment of silence. "What are you going to do?"

"Well, I've been thinking about it," said Harry. "And I've come to a decision."

"Which is?" she asked.

"I'm not going," said Harry, who then stood up and exited out through the portrait hole and leaving a very shocked Hermione sitting there alone.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Over the next few days, Hermione had spent all of her time trying to convince Harry to attend the Yule Ball. From everything from promising that he would have a good time to the fact that it was his duty as one of the champions to attend. Each time that last one was brought up, Harry reminded her that he never wanted to be in the tournament in the first place and that he was being forced to participate or lose his magic. All he had wanted was a normal, quiet year.

On the morning of the Yule Ball, which was also Christmas, Harry, Hermione, and the four Weasley kids all sat around and opened presents before heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Once they had all eaten the fill, Ron even going beyond that, they all went outside to enjoy the fresh snowfall. That quickly turned into all of them throwing snow balls at each other.

"Look et them," said Fleur as she walked by with a group of fellow Beauxbatons students. "Acting like such cheeldren."

While Ron just stood there, drooling like an idiot, and Hermione scowling at the French witch, Harry, Ginny, and the twins charmed a pile of snow into one giant snowball even larger than Hagrid, which then chased the French witches as they ran for the safety of the school.

After a lunch of hot soup and hearty stew to warm everyone up due to the cold, Hermione excused herself from the group.

"Where you going?" asked Ron.

"I have to get ready for the ball," said Hermione.

"Why? You have loads of time," said Ron.

"Because unlike you little brother, it takes the fairer sex time to make themselves look good," said Fred.

"See?" said George, as he pointed out the various female students that were leaving in groups to get ready for that night.

"Whatever," said Ron. "I don't see what the big deal is. A quick cleaning charm and I'm good to go."

Both twins shook their heads, as their younger brother just didn't seem to get it.

Hermione turned to Harry and said, "Last chance before I go. Please come to the ball tonight?"

"I'm sorry Hermione," said Harry. "But… I just can't. I won't."

Sadly, she nodded her head, finally accepting that there would be no chance of getting him to attend, outside of informing Professor McGonagall about it, and left the Great Hall to start getting ready for that night.

Feeling warm and too full of soup and stew, the boys decided it was best to just stay inside and returned to their common room for games of chess and exploding snap.

Finally, as time drew nearer to the ball, everyone who was going headed up to get ready. Except for Ron that is, who still didn't see the big deal and was sticking to his plan to use a cleaning charm on himself before getting changed.

Seeing the time, Harry ran up to his room, where he grabbed his broom with plans on flying around the Quidditch field while everyone else was at the ball.

"Where you going?" asked Ron.

"You don't think I'm going to spend the night cooped up in here, do you?" asked Harry. "It's a beautiful night out, and I'd like to go flying once this year without a murderous dragon chasing after me."

"But it's supposed to drop below zero out there," said Colin Creevey, who was sitting near the fireplace as he looked through his disturbingly large collection of photos of Harry. "You'll freeze to death before you make it back."

"Then I'll see you in hell," Harry said as he opened the window, hopped on his broom and flew out into the cold night air.

Harry cried out in joy as he dove strait down, all of his cares and worries leaving him as he flew.

For the next two hours, Harry dived, rolled, and looped his way around the Quidditch field before he decided to fly by the castle and peek through the windows of the Great Hall and see what was going on. But more importantly, he wanted to see Hermione and how beautiful she was surely to look.

Soon, he found himself floating in the air not far from the large windows as he watched everyone having a good time. Well, almost everyone. He noticed Ron sitting by himself, looking quite angry about something. The red head also appeared to be glaring at someone, and when he followed where he was looking, he saw her.

Hermione looking gorgeous dressed in a very light blue colored dress robe and her hair done up, which he noticed didn't have any of the usual bushiness. His heart then sank when he saw her laughing and having a good time as she danced with Viktor Krum.

Not being able to stand watching anymore, he quickly turned his broom upwards and zoomed towards the sky, not realizing that someone had seen him.

Harry leaned forward on his broom, gaining more speed as he rose higher and higher. He flew above the clouds and continued to rise until the air around him started to get thin, making it hard to breath. And just like that, he turned around and started to fly as fast as he could, strait down.

He very quickly picked up speed as he went down, going faster than he went up thanks to the aid of gravity. As he passed through the layers of clouds and saw the ground fast approaching, Harry couldn't help but start laughing.

Then, just seconds before he impacted against the ground, which would turn him into a pile of goo in a deep hole at the speed he was going, he quickly pulled out of his dive and corkscrewed his way up before leveling out and circling the field once.

"MR. POTTER!"

Harry came to a stop and gulped, recognizing the voice. He knew when he decided not to go to the Yule Ball that this would happen. That knowledge still didn't make the fact that he had to face her any less daunting.

Turning around, he saw Professor McGonagall standing on one of the lower seat around the stadium and flew down towards her, noticing that she looked even more strict than usual.

"Yes Professor?" Harry asked in what he hoped was his most innocent voice.

"Just what do you think you are doing out here?" she asked.

"Flying," said Harry.

"I can see that," Professor McGonagall said. "The question I am asking is why, when you very well know I told you that you had to attend the ball tonight as it was your responsibility as a champion."

Harry shrugged his shoulders as he landed next to her and sat down. "I don't know," he said. "I couldn't find a date, so I didn't see the point. I mean, I can't exactly open up some dance without someone to dance with."

"Poppycock," Professor McGonagall said. Her many years of teaching and dealing with various students, his father and friends included, and telling her that he wasn't being honest. "I know for a fact that there was a very large number of young witches that would have cursed anyone else for the chance to attend the ball with you."

"Yeah, just what I want," said Harry. "To spend my night being fawned over as the bloody Boy-Who-Lived."

Professor McGonagall was about to chastise him for his language when she spotted something in his eyes as he spoke. Something she had seen once before in a face very much like his own. In the face of his father.

It had been during James' sixth year when it happened. In that year, James' had started to become practically vicious in some of his pranks to the point where Severus had nearly been killed. It was only a last minute bought of his conscience getting to him that made him save the future potions teachers' life. When she finally pulled him into her office and demanded to know what was wrong, she eventually found out that he had been in love with Lily Evens and that when he asked her out, she said she would rather date a troll than go out with him. Of course, that all changed the following year when he stopped acting so much like a miscreant and grew up. She had seen a different side of him that year and finally agreed to go out with him, and by the end of the year, they had fallen in love and were soon to be married. The proof of their love for each other was now sitting in front of her, shivering slightly due to the cold night air.

Discreetly, she cast a warming charm on Harry as she sat down next to him, her features softening a bit as she knew this wasn't a time to be stern.

With a sigh, she said, "I should have known this would happen."

Seeing the confused look on Harry's face, she continued. "Your father… He was the same way when he had fallen in love with your mother. Though, he was a few years older and he rebelled as well in his own way."

"Pranking?" asked Harry.

Professor McGonagall nodded and said, "Quite viciously too. It is why Professor Snape dislikes your father so much. He and his friends pulled some bad ones on him. But your father also saved him from one that would have ended up killing him, which I believe makes the man hate your father, and unfortunately, you as well, even more. However, we're getting off topic right now… I guess I should ask you who the young witch is that has obviously stolen your heart so much."

"You don't think it's Cho?" asked Harry.

"Hah," she laughed. "Please… I am not that out of touch with what is going on in this school that I did not hear of the Weasley twins joke. And despite rumors to the contrary, I do not have a stick up my butt that prevents me from being humorous as well. However, if you say anything to anyone about this, I will see you in detention from now till you finish your seventh year."

Harry gulped and nodded.

"Good," said Professor McGonagall. "Now… If I had to guess, I would say that your feelings revolve around Miss Granger."

Harry looked at her in surprise. He had no idea he had been so transparent about his feelings.

Seeing the look on his face, she nodded briefly.

"I suspected as much," she said.

"How?" asked Harry.

"A few things," she said. "First is while you do not have the cruel pranking streak your father did, you are very much like him. And that includes an attraction to the smartest witch that you know. The fact that both your mother and Miss Granger are both Muggleborn is just a coincidence… Second was during your second year. All those times you stayed by her side while she had been petrified. Madam Pomfrey told me that on a few occasions she had to forcibly remove you because you refused to leave. I do not know about you, but to me that says that you care for her more than just a friend. Then last year when she informed me about the broom you had received. The look on your face when you found out Hermione came and told me… It was more than just a look of simple betrayal. You were heartbroken over it."

Harry nodded quietly. He had felt heartbroken when she had gone behind his back and told Professor McGonagall about the broom. In hindsight, he understood why she did it. She wanted to keep him safe because at the time they believed that Sirius was trying to kill him. But at the time, it felt like she had turned against him.

"The question I am wondering is why you did not ask her?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"I was going to," Harry said. "In fact, right after you told me I had to go to the Yule Ball, I knew right away that this was my chance to ask Hermione out and then tell her how I felt. I went right to the library, since I knew she would be there, and planned on asking her right away. Problem was… I was too late. Krum had already asked her and she said yes… That's why I didn't come to the ball tonight. I know I could have gotten a date easily. But I purposefully waited to ask someone once I knew they already had a date so…"

He trailed off, not sure if he should say his reason for not going because it would make him sound jealous.

"So you wouldn't have to see her with someone else?" asked Professor McGonagall, easily drawing a conclusion to his reason. And when Harry nodded, she sighed heavily. It was hard to be in love and see the person of your desires with someone else. Being young and in love was a bitch like that.

The two of them sat in silence for a while before she spoke.

"Well… I thin for this one time, I shall forego any punishment for disregarding an order from a professor," she said. "Mostly because I doubt any punishment could be worse than how you are feeling."

Harry nodded as he looked down at his feet.

"However," she continued. "I must insist that you return to Gryffindor tower. Regular curfew is about to pass, and since you are not attending the ball, you will have to abide by that rule."

"Okay," Harry said as he stood up and collected his broom. He started to walk away, when he stopped and said, "Professor?"

Professor McGonagall turned to look at the young wizard.

"Thanks," he said. "For talking to me. It… It helped a bit to get it out in the open."

"Anytime you need to talk Mr. Potter, that is what I am your Head of House for," she said and watched as he continued to walk away.

OoOoOoOoOoO

With nothing much else to do, once Harry returned to Gryffindor tower, he went up to the forth year boys' dorm and stared at his egg, trying to figure out what the clue was. He knew it had something to do with the sound it made, which to him, sounded like an owl being raped by a hippogriff. Though, he doubted that had anything to do with it.

He became so focused on trying to figure out the egg and keep his mind off of Hermione that he didn't realize what time it was until he heard shouting coming from down in the common room.

Seeing that it was just after midnight, and headed down to see what the yelling was about.

Harry came down the stairs just in time to see Hermione turn and run up the stairs to the girls' dorms, crying, while everyone else was looking at Ron, who stood alone in the middle of the room.

"Harry, there you are," the red head said when he spotted him. "Can you believe her? Going to the ball with Krum. Fraternizing with the enemy like that."

It didn't take much for Harry to piece together what had happened. The look he saw on Ron's face when he had peeked in on the ball. The things he just said. The way Hermione had run off crying. It was just like first year all over again.

He remembered how happy Hermione had looked during the ball while she had been dancing, and a white, hot rage started to build inside him. And before he knew what he was doing, he had pulled back his fist and punched Ron as hard as he could, breaking his nose and causing blood to run down onto his hideous robes as he stumbled back and fell hard on the floor.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WAS THAT FOR?" exclaimed Ron.

"You ruined her night you fucking asshole," growled Harry, who was now being held back by both Dean and Seamus. "She was happy, and you couldn't except that, could you? You never could accept anything about her. Always insulting her and putting her down. Ever since first year. And even after you almost got her killed because you made her feel so bad she spent the day in the loo and was attacked by that troll, you still have to try and make yourself feel better by making her feel bad… I fucking tired of it."

"What are you saying?" asked Ron as he used his dress robes to try and stop the bleeding.

"I'm saying we're through," said Harry.

Harry then broke free from Dean and Seamus and started to turn to head up the stairs to their dorm room.

"You're picking that know-it-all muggleborn over me?" asked Ron.

The room became so quiet, you could hear a pin drop as no one even dared to breath. While what Ron said wasn't as bad as the things Malfoy would say, it was bad enough, and they all knew that they youngest Weasley male had just crossed a very serious line.

Harry turned and marched right up to Ron, the two of them nose to bloody nose, and stared at him with cold eyes.

"She has been a better friend than you ever have," Harry said in a quiet whisper that made Ron want to wet himself. "Unlike you, she has never turned her back on me when I needed my friends the most. You, Ronald Bilbus Weasley, while not as out right cruel, are still almost as bad as Malfoy. You think the world owes you everything while you sit on your ass and do nothing but continually insult others. It hurts me to do this, because you were my first friend. But I'll be damned if I'll stand here and listen to you bad mouth Hermione anymore. So let this be a warning. If I hear you say anything, and I mean anything negative to or about Hermione, your mother will have one less sweater to knit come Christmas time. Understand?"

Ron nodded his head so fast, a few students were afraid it might snap off.

Harry nodded his head once before turning around and heading up to the forth year boys' dorm.

"Alright you lot, nothing to see here," said Fred.

"Move along now, shows over," said George.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Hermione was curled up on her bed with the curtains pulled shut. She was wearing her nightgown and bathrobe. Her dress robes discarded and tossed near the trashcan, as she didn't want to keep it and be reminded how badly the night had ended.

She stopped herself from crying when she heard the door open and Lavender and Parvati walk in.

"I still can't believe it," Lavender whispered, thinking Hermione was probably asleep.

"I can," said Parvati, who had been in a bad mood due to Ron ignoring her the entire night. "Can't say he didn't deserve it either."

"Well, obviously," said Lavender as the two of them started to change for bed. "But still… They've been friends since first year. Thick as thieves, the two of them, if the rumors are true about the things that have happened over the years."

"Except for when he turned his back on him," pointed out Parvati. "Why Harry even forgave him is beyond me."

"Because they're friends," said Lavender.

"We're friends," said Parvati. "Past tense."

Hermione had to stifle a gasp upon hearing that. Something had happened between Harry and Ron, ending their friendship again.

"You have to admit, it is kind of romantic in a way," said Lavender.

"Do you think she knows?" asked Parvati as she gestured towards Hermione's bed.

"No idea," said Lavender. "But still… After the way he acted and what he said… It's obvious that Harry is in love with her."

Hermione once again had to stifle a gasp. Harry was in love with her? Since when? Not that she wasn't pleased with the idea of it being true. She had been in love with him for a while now.

It had started on the night he saved her from that troll. Seeing him risk is life and jumping on its back had her thinking of a brave knight coming to her rescue. Though, back then it had been a simple crush. It didn't become more until after she had been unpetrified and found out that Harry had spent all of his free time sitting by her side. Unfortunately, so many years of rejection from so many people before her friendship with Harry prevented her from acting on her feelings and telling him the truth. She never guessed he had feelings for her in that way, and didn't want to risk ruining their friendship by telling him. She would rather have suffered as a friend and seeing him with someone else than to lose him completely.

But now to find out he might actually feel the same way… It made her think over the last year. About all the time he had preferred to be with her instead of Ron before the red headed arse turned his back on him. On the way Harry always seemed to sit close to her, usually saying he was just curious as to what she was reading. The day in the library when Viktor has asked her to the Yule Ball.

"Oh no," Hermione whispered. She had been so shocked by what had happened, that she had missed the look on Harry's face when she had told him. He had been hurt. Maybe even heart broken. She realized that he was going to ask her before she told him about Viktor. Then his inability to find a date. It wasn't that he couldn't find someone to go with. He wouldn't go with anyone else. She then figured the reason he didn't go to the ball at all was because he wouldn't have been able to stand seeing her with Krum.

Getting up, she threw back the bed curtains and rushed out of the room, ignoring the looks she got from her dorm mates. She needed to talk to Harry. To explain to him about what happened. He needed to know the truth.

As she passed through the common room, she ignored the fact that an unconscious Ron was hanging upside down by his ankles from the ceiling, bound with ropes, a rubber chicken stuffed in his mouth, and wearing a sign that said 'Number One Git'.

She raced up the stairs and threw open the door to the forth year boys' dorm.

"Oi, we're changing here!" shouted Seamus, who quickly covered his half naked form.

Hermione ignored him as well as she went over to Harry's bed, which had the curtains drawn shut.

"Harry?" she called out.

"He can't hear you," Neville said. "He put a sticking charm to keep the hangings closed and silenced it so no one can talk to him."

"We'll see about that," Hermione said as she pulled out her wand. "Finite."

She then reached out and pulled the curtains open a little before climbing onto the bed and closing them again.

"Hermione, what the hell?" asked a surprised Harry.

Hermione quickly recast the spells Harry had placed around his bed before turning to look at him.

"I needed to talk to you," she said.

"If this is about what happened between me and Ron…" Harry started to say.

"Forget Ron. He's an arse," said Hermione, surprising Harry at her use of language.

The two of them sat there on Harry's bed in silence for a few minutes. On her way there, Hermione had been so sure of what she wanted to say to Harry. But now, face to face with him, her old insecurities were coming back.

Finally, when she noticed Harry was about to say something, she blurted out, "Viktor's married."

"That's nice," Harry said. "Wait, what?"

"Viktor Krum is married," repeated Hermione.

"No he isn't," said Harry.

"Actually, he is," said Hermione. "He married his girlfriend right after the World Cup. But they're keeping it a secret for now because his manager says it would hurt some of his endorsement deals because all those girls that fawn over him would be heart broken."

"Okay," said Harry.

"That's why he asked me to the ball," said Hermione.

"I don't get it," he said.

"He asked me because I wasn't some fan girl following him around all the time," she said. "He knew I had no interest in him in that way, and so he told me about his wife and how he couldn't take her, but needed someone to go with him."

"And you obviously said yes," Harry said, sounding a little upset by it.

"I did," Hermione said sadly. "I honestly didn't think anyone else would have asked me."

"I was going to," Harry said in just barely above a whisper, thought loud enough that Hermione heard him.

"Harry, I need to ask you something, and I want you to be honest with me," said Hermione.

"Always," said Harry.

"Do you love me?" she asked.

Harry looked away, unable to meet her eyes.

"Harry?" she asked quietly, worried that what Lavender and Parvati said was wrong and that her heart was about to be broken.

"What do you want me to say?" asked Harry.

"The truth," said Hermione.

"Yes," he said. "Yes, I love you. I've been in love with you since last year."

"Last year?" asked Hermione, feeling as though she was floating amongst the clouds.

"Yeah," said Harry as he leaned back against the headboard of his bed. Hermione moved up next to him and cuddled into his side. Without even thinking, Harry wrapped an arm around her, holding her close. "It was when we went back in time to save Sirius. Right after we freed Buckbeak and were sitting on that hill on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, watching the Whomping Willow for when our past selves came back from the Shrieking Shack. The moon had just started to rise and turned to look at you and I… I… I just knew that I was in love with you… In that moment, I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you."

Hermione sniffed as she fought back the happy tears that threatened to fall.

"Harry?" she said.

"Yes Hermione?" he said, looking at her.

"I love you too," she whispered to him before gently kissing him on the lips.

**The End**


	2. PS: Of Trains and Boats and Hands

**DISCLAIMER: You know the usual song and dance. J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter. Blah, blah, blah. Story time. YAY!**

**PS: Of Trains and Boats and Hands**

As Harry looked at his ticket, he was confused. Platform 9 ¾? There had to have been a mistake.

"Hagrid?" Harry asked before the very large man had left him at the Dursley's for the rest of the summer. "I think there's something wrong with my ticket."

"Wrong?" said Hagrid. "Lemme see."

Harry handed him the ticket and Hagrid looked it over.

"Nope," said the half giant. "Everything looks fine to me."

"But it says Platform 9 ¾," said Harry. "Surely such a place doesn't exist."

"Blimey, I forgot," said Hagrid, slapping himself on the forehead with his dustbin lid sized hand. "Platform 9 ¾ does exist Harry, but it's a special place only witches and wizards can get to. You see, what you have to do is go to the area between platforms nine and ten. Along the area there will be a series of large pillars. Count down to the fifth one, and you'll find the hidden entrance. It looks like a solid wall, but that's so the muggles don't see it. Just walk right through it and you'll find yourself where you need to be."

"Oh… Okay Hagrid," said Harry. "And thank you for today. It was the best birthday I ever had."

OoOoOoOoOoO

Harry smiled to himself as the Dursley's drove off, laughing as they thought they were leaving him to his fate at King's Cross. Uncle Vernon had made a comment about how they didn't seem to have built Harry's platform yet, and Harry didn't bother to tell him it was hidden by magic.

The joke would be on them when they came to pick him up in June, his head chock full of magical spells. Harry's smile grew even wider as he thought about seeing if he could learn how to give someone a pigs tail, so he could cast it on his cousin the day he got back.

After making sure that Hedwig's cage was secure on top of his trunk, Harry pushed the trolley down between platforms nine and ten, counting the pillars as he went.

Just as he passed the forth pillar, he caught a glimpse of someone vanishing right in front of the fifth pillar, just like Hagrid had told him.

Making sure that no one was watching him, Harry pushed his trolley towards the pillar. He closed his eyed just moments before he reached it, his mind telling him he was going to hit it.

Instead, nothing.

Opening his eyes, he found himself staring at a large scarlet colored steam engine. He looked around, seeing the various people dressed in all sorts of robes and smiled once again when he spotted the sign that read 'Platform 9 ¾'.

Harry made his way over to the train, where the conductor was nice enough to help him lift his heavy trunk up onto one of the cars.

"But Father, it isn't fair," a boy with slicked back blond hair whined. "I should be able to bring my broom with me. You're on the Board of Governors. Make it so I can have my broom"

Harry shook his head, reminded of his cousin and how he would throw a temper tantrum whenever he didn't get his way.

Pulling his trunk and cage, Harry made his way down the train until he found a compartment with only one person sitting in it.

"Is it okay if I sit here?" Harry asked.

The young girl with bushy brown hair and slightly large front teeth looked up from the very large book she had been reading and looked at Harry in surprise.

"Um, okay," she said nervously, though Harry wasn't sure why.

After storing his trunk under his seat and setting Hedwig's cage in the overhead rack, Harry sat down on the seat opposite the girl, who had buried herself back into her book.

Harry stared out the window, watching as the various families showed up and said their goodbyes to each other. He felt a sense of longing as he watched a mother tearfully hug and kiss her son goodbye before his father ruffled his hair and wished him luck.

Ever since he had learned the truth about his parents and how they died, he started to wonder what it would have been like to grow up with them still alive. Would he be receiving the same kind of farewell from them as that other boy he had just seen?

Hermione looked up from her book when she heard the boy sitting across from her sigh. He was looking out the window at everyone and just seemed… Sad. He reminded her a lot of herself, as she had seen that same look in the mirror plenty of times after the kids at her old school would make fun of her.

Taking a deep breath, she decided that if she was going to make any friends, she would have to put herself out there.

"Is this your first year?' she asked.

Harry looked at her, a little surprised by her voice. They had been sitting there in silence for nearly ten minutes.

"Yes," Harry said, nodding his head.

"Mine too," said Hermione. "It's still kind of all overwhelming to me, being a witch and all."

"I know what you mean," said Harry. "I've only known for a month now and I still have trouble believing all of this is real."

"Oh, so you're a muggle born as well?" Hermione asked, remembering the term that Professor McGonagall had used when she came to tell her and her parents the news and invite her to Hogwarts.

"No," said Harry. "Both of my parents were magical."

"Were?" she asked.

"They died when I was a baby," Harry said.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Hermione, mentally kicking herself.

"It's okay," said Harry. "I was only a year old when it happened… I don't even remember them."

"I'm Hermione, by the way," she said. "Hermione Granger."

"Harry Potter," he said.

Hermione gasped in surprise. Here she was, sitting there and talking to someone that was famous in the wizarding world. She then realized why his parents were dead.

"What?" asked a confused Harry.

"Are you really?" she asked.

"Yes," he said.

"I was just reading about you," said Hermione, holding up the book in her lap.

"Reading about me?" asked Harry.

"Yes, you're quite famous," said Hermione. "Look."

Hermione opened the book and found the page she wanted before handing it over to Harry to read.

Harry James Potter, also known as the Boy-Who-Lived, and for good reason. He is the only person known to have ever survived the killing curse, which was first known to have been used in 649 and works by detaching the persons life essence, or soul, from their body. The curse had been cast upon him by You-Know-Who, during the height of his dark reign upon Wizarding Britain on the night of October 31, 1981. For reasons unknown, even to this very day, the curse some how had reflected off of baby Harry, and instead destroyed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, leaving young Harry with nothing but a small scar of a lightning bolt on his forehead.

"I didn't know I was in any books," said Harry after he finished reading and handed the book back to Hermione.

"You're in a few others as well," said Hermione. "But they all pretty much say the same thing."

"This is kind of weird," Harry said. "Finding out that I'm written about in books."

"Did you know you were famous?" asked Hermione.

"Kind of," said Harry. "I mean, after I got my letter and Hagrid took me to Diagon Alley to get my school supplies, everyone in the Leaky Cauldron came up to me and shook my hand and stuff."

Sensing he was feeling awkward about talking about his fame by his body language, Hermione decided to change the topic.

"What house do you think you'll be in?" she asked.

"House?" asked Harry.

"Yes, house," said Hermione. "There are four of them. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. I read about it in _Hogwarts, A History_. It mentioned that each new student has to take some kind of test to determine what house they belong in, but it didn't say what kind of test. Which I think is kind of unfair. I mean, how are you supposed to review for a test if you don't know what it will be about."

"Test?" asked Harry, a little afraid of what it might entail.

"Yes, a test," said Hermione. "If it's one where we have to use magic, I hope I can do okay. I mean, I've read through all of our course books already, but haven't been able to actually use any of the spells since we're not allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts until we turn seventeen, which it turns out is when you become an adult in the wizarding world."

Harry started to feel nervous as he thought about being tested. He didn't know any magic and worried that he would make a fool of himself in front of everyone and be told that he didn't belong and be sent home.

Just before the train pulled out of the station, a chubby, round faced boy who was carrying a toad asked if he could sit with them.

"I'm Neville Longbottom," he said as he tried to keep a hold on his toad.

"I'm Hermione Granger," she said. "And he's Harry Potter."

Neville's eyes went wide when he heard Harry's name.

"My Gran told me about you," said Neville, who was nervous about sitting with the Boy-Who-Lived.

Harry just nodded, feeling uncomfortable at being the center of attention. And he just knew that it would get worse once he got to Hogwarts and everyone found out about him.

Before they knew it, the Hogwarts Express started on its way. For the first bit of the journey, there was a feeling of awkwardness in the compartment as none of them knew what to say.

When Neville's toad, Trevor, suddenly leapt out of his owners hand, Harry saw it out of the corner of his eye. Without even thinking about it, he reached out and captured the escaping amphibian.

"Thanks," said a surprised and a grateful Neville. "He's been trying to get away from me ever since I left home this morning."

"You shouldn't keep him in the open like that," said Hermione in a slightly bossy tone. "He needs water to stay comfortable."

Just then, the door of their compartment slid open and a squat looking woman smiled at them.

"Anything off the trolley dears?" she asked.

"Do you have any water?" asked Harry.

The witch pulled out her wand and a small container. "Aquamenti," she said, and a stream of water poured out of the tip of her wand.

"Amazing," Hermione whispered.

"Here you go," she said, handing it to Harry, who then handed it to Neville, who put his toad in it. "Anything else?"

Harry looked over what she was selling and purchased a few Cauldron Cakes and a bottle of Pumpkin Juice.

Neville bought himself some Chocolate Frogs and Pumpkin Juice, while Hermione pulled out a small bag with fruit slices in it. As Neville watched her pop a grape into her mouth, he looked at her questioningly.

"My parents are dentists," Hermione said, answering the unasked question. "So I'm really not allowed to have sweets."

"Dentists?" asked Neville, never having heard of the word before.

Hermione went on to explain what dentists were to the young wizard, learning as well as she found out that most injuries and small health issues were handled at home through magic, while any major problem, you had to go to St. Mungos and see a Healer.

The rest of the train ride went without incident, with the three of them getting to know each other. Though, Harry didn't say much about the Dursley's and Neville didn't say anything about his parents since they had all just met each other and didn't feel comfortable sharing such personal details.

As the sun set and the neared Hogsmeade station, the three of them pulled their plain black robes from their trunks and slipped them on over their clothes just as the train started to slow down.

Exiting the train, Harry said hello to Hagrid and introduced Hermione and Neville to him.

"A'right firs' years, follow me," Hagrid said to the gathered first year students.

They followed him down a path, away from the station and through some trees until the came to the edge of the Black Lake where a dozen small boats were waiting.

Hermione instantly froze when she saw the boats.

Harry, noticing she had stopped, turned to look at her.

"You okay, Hermione?" he asked.

"N-n-no," she said quietly. "I…I… I… I can't go."

"Why not?" asked Harry.

Hermione looked down at her shoes and whispered something.

"What was that?" Harry asked as he stepped closer so he could hear.

"I'm afraid of the water," she said. "I can't swim."

"Oh," Harry said, feeling bad for his new friend. "But we have to take the boats. Otherwise, we wont be able to get to Hogwarts since we don't know the way."

"I know," said Hermione. "But still…"

Hermione started to tremble a little with fear as she tried to force herself to move towards the boats.

Suddenly, Harry smiled and said, "I have an idea."

"What?" asked Hermione.

Harry took her hand and slowly pulled her towards the boats.

"Harry, what are you doing?" she asked, her voice full of panic.

"We're going to ride the boats together," said Harry. "I'll be with you the whole way, holding your hand, alright?"

Hermione looked down at the joined hands and then back up into her emerald green eyes.

"Promise?" she asked.

"Promise," Harry said.

The two of them made their way to the only empty boat, and Harry helped her get in and sit down before they magically took off. Harry was starting to lose the feeling in his hand due to the death grip Hermione had on it, but didn't say a thing. Hermione had her eyes squeezed shut tightly, afraid that if she looked, she would freak out in front of everyone.

Finally, the boats reached the docks and they got out.

"See?" said Harry. "That wasn't so bad."

"I guess," said Hermione, her heart beating a million miles a second.

The two of them stood there for a moment while the rest of the students followed Hagrid up a very long set of stone steps.

"Thank you Harry," Hermione finally said. She then leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before letting go of his hand and following after the rest of the first years with a blush creeping up onto her cheeks.

Harry stood there dumbly for a moment as he gently touched the place her lips had touched his cheek before realizing he was the only one where and running to catch up with everyone else.

The End

**A/N:** I wanted to go for something a little different than the usual 'I love you and I have to be with you' story. I wanted this to be something kind of sweet and innocent, but leaving it open for the possibility of something more between them when they get older.

Also, I'm sure a lot of you noticed that Draco didn't come by and try to be Harry's friend. The reason for that is because since Harry didn't meet the Weasley's to get onto Platform 9 ¾, the twins didn't know he was there and spread the word around, so Draco had no idea that Harry Potter was on the train. No one but Hermione and Neville would know about Harry until the Sorting.


	3. OotP: The Tower

**DISCLAIMER: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter. I don't.**

**OotP: The Tower**

It was the morning of the last day before the end of their fifth year when Hermione came down from her dorm room. She briefly held her stomach where the flame cutting curse had hit her during the battle in the Department of Mysteries. While she was better and healed up enough to leave the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey had told her that she would be a little tender and sore for about another week.

When she reached the common room, she found Ron sitting alone.

"Where's Harry?' Hermione asked.

"No idea," said Ron. "He was gone before I woke up."

Hermione was worried about Harry. He had been distant ever since they came back from the Ministry. And while she knew he had to be hurting from the death of Sirius, something told her there was more. She didn't know what, but knew that it involved Dumbledore in some way based on the disappointed looks Harry would occasionally give the Headmaster during meals. At least, during the meals that Harry actually showed up for.

"Did you check the map?" she asked the red head.

"No," said Ron after a moment of silence. "He keeps it with him all the time. I think he uses it to avoid everyone so he can be alone."

Hermione let out a frustrated sigh as she leaned back on the couch. Something was telling her that she needed to find Harry, but she had no way of knowing where he was.

Suddenly, Hermione had an idea. One that went against her principles and beliefs. However, she was desperate to find Harry.

"Dobby?" Hermione called out, earning her a surprised look from Ron.

POP

"Yes missus Harry Potter's Grangey," Dobby said.

Hermione ignored the fact that Dobby didn't get her name right and said, "Do you happen to know where Harry is?"

"Of course," said Dobby. "Dobby is beings a good house elf and keeping watches on the great Harry Potter and bringing hims his meals."

Hermione mentally sighed in relief that Harry was at least eating when he didn't come to the Great Hall.

"Great, thank you Dobby," said Hermione. "Where is he?"

"The great Harry Potter is ups where you looks at the twinkles," said Dobby.

"The twinkles?" asked Hermione, wondering what the elf meant.

"Yes," said Dobby, nodding his head. "The twinkles in the sky."

"Twinkles in the sky?" Hermione quietly asked herself. "You mean stars?"

Dobby nodded his head so fast, it caused his ears to flap and briefly reminded the bushy haired witch of a certain elephant.

"Harry's at the astronomy tower," Hermione said with a smile as she stood up and rushed out through the portrait hole.

"Right," said Ron. "I guess I'll just go and have breakfast by myself then. Which just means more bacon for me."

Ron smiled at the thought of all the extra food he would get, stood up and made his way down to the Great Hall with a little extra pep in his step.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Harry stood, leaning against the edge of the astronomy tower as he looked out at the vast ground of Hogwarts. Down below he could see students enjoying the day off from classes with nothing but thoughts of packing later that night and heading home for the summer holidays tomorrow. Over at the Black Lake, the giant squid was tossing the younger mermaids around, and even at this distance, he could just make out their screeching cries of joy as they were flung up into the air before splashing down in the water, and then repeating the process again and again.

Everyone's life was good it seemed, except for his.

His mind weighed heavily with guilt and burden. He blamed himself for Sirius' death and the injuries his friends had suffered because he had been fooled by Voldemort with a fake vision. And then there was the prophecy.

Harry let out a deep sigh as he thought about the reason why his life had pretty much sucked since he was a year old. Granted, there were a few good things in his life, but not enough to come even close to outweighing the bad.

"Harry?"

Harry pulled out his wand and raised it as he spun on his heel.

"Hermione?" he said, slightly surprised that she had found him as he could have sworn he had taken every precaution to make sure that no one could. As he lowered his wand and slipped it back into his pocket, he double checked to make sure that his map was still there. It was.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked as he turned his back on her, not seeing the hurt look on her face.

"I've been worried about you," said Hermione as she moved closer to the green eyed wizard and stood beside him. "You haven't been around much, and when you are, it seems like your miles away."

"I'm fine," Harry said dryly.

Hermione scoffed and said, "And Ron has the best table manners in the world."

Despite his slightly sour mood, Harry couldn't help but crack a small smile and thinking that only Hermione could find a way, even for the tiniest of moments, to make him forget his troubles.

"How did you find me anyways?" asked Harry.

"Dobby told me," said Hermione. "He's been worried about you too."

She glanced over at Harry, who was staring out at the grounds.

"I… I just needed to be alone," said Harry. "So much has happened. I needed space to think about it all."

Harry's insides were twisting into knots as he knew he was setting himself on a certain path with what he was going to tell Hermione.

"Hermione… I… I don't think we should be friends anymore."

Whatever Hermione had expected Harry to say, that was not it.

"What?" she asked.

"It's not that I don't want you as my friend," Harry said quickly. "You being a part of my life is one of the few good things I have. But that's the problem. Everything good in my life ends up being taken away from me. My parents died because of me. Cedric died because of me. Sirius died because of me. You, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Luna… I almost got all of you killed."

As both of them couldn't bring themselves to look at each other, neither of them noticed the tears filling their eyes and rolling down the cheeks.

"When you were hit with that spell," Harry said, "and I thought you were dead… For that one moment, my world had ended. For that moment, I had no reason to live… My life has pretty much been cursed since before I was born to involve death. If we're still friends, it's only a matter of time before I get you killed. I could never live with myself if that happened. He's going to keep coming after me. Again and again and again until either he kills me or I kill him. And before that happens… Anyone that is near me is going to end up caught in the crossfire. I can't let that happen to you."

Harry wiped the tears from his eyes and slowly started to turn away to leave.

"Harry?" Hermione said in a quiet voice, and when he turned to look at her…

SLAP

"You fucking arse," she said, a looking of burning fire in her eyes that caused him to shrink back in fear a bit. "How dare you say all that. What happened is not your fault. You did not get anyone killed. No one is responsible for those deaths except for the ones that cast the curses that killed them. Voldemort killed your parents. Pettigrew killed Cedric. Bellatrix killed Sirius. Not you. And if you think I'm going to let the man that I love toss me aside in some foolish noble gesture because you think it will keep you safe, you have anything thing coming mister. I promised myself during our first year that I would stick by your side, no matter what, and I plan on keeping that promise."

Harry's eyes shot wide open while she had been yelling at him.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"I said I'm keeping my promise to…" Hermione started to say.

"No, no," Harry interrupted her. "Right before that. You said… You said you love me?"

Hermione blushed a little, though her anger at Harry didn't fade.

"Yes, I love you," said Hermione. "Honestly, is it really that much of a surprise?"

As Harry thought back on the years he had known the bushy haired witch, he realized that it really wasn't much of a surprise to him. The way she looked at him. Her smile. The way she had dropped everything when he needed her, like during the Christmas break. She had plans to spent it with her parents and instead came running to find him when he was feeling like his world was crashing down around him.

Just then, Dumbledore's words echoed through his head. "Love, Harry," he said. "Love is the power he knows not."

His mothers' love had saved his life before. Maybe it had been the love Hermione secretly had for him that had kept him alive these last few years. The love that he secretly had for her.

He had been a fool, thinking that he could just tell her to walk away and that she would. He had been a fool to think that he could actually continue this fight against Voldemort without her. He just hoped that he hadn't ruined everything.

Hermione looked into Harry's eyes and noticed something had changed within him.

Harry moved closer to his best friend, the girl that he loved, and leaned in close.

"Stay with me," he whispered just before he captured her lips with his.

From the grounds before, a bright light coming from the top of the astronomy tower drew everyone's attention. The light grew so bright that many had to shield their eyes.

"Wow," Hermione said breathlessly as the kiss ended. Sometime during it, the two of them had wrapped their arms around each other, holding themselves as close together as they physically could.

Harry just stared into her eyes and nodded dumbly, amazed at the feelings he had flowing through him. Before, he had felt like a piece of shit for trying to push her away. And now, it felt as though a phoenix was singing inside of him.

They both turned when the door to the astronomy tower burst open. Standing there with wands in hand were professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Flitwick.

When the light had exploded, Dumbledore had thought that there was some kind of attack. But now that he saw the two of them standing there, holding each other and looking so much in love, he knew exactly what had happened.

The tide had changed.

Ushering his colleges away, Dumbledore apologized for disturbing them.

"Albus, you can't just leave them up there," said Professor McGonagall. "We don't know what happened."

"Actually, I believe I do," said Dumbledore. "Come to my office. There is much to discuss."

"What was that about?" asked Hermione, as they continued to look at the now closed door.

"I have no bloody idea," said Harry.

"Language, Harry," Hermione said, slapping him lightly on the chest.

"Oh, you're one to talk," Harry said with a grin.

"What are you babbling about?" asked Hermione.

"I believe the words you used were 'you fucking arse'," said Harry.

"I did NOT?" said Hermione, thinking back and realizing that she had, in fact, said those words.

Harry just smiled at her as he turned her towards the door and started to walk the two of them towards the stairs.

"Afraid so, love," said Harry, who then leaned over and kissed her on the top of her head. "But don't worry. I wont say anything to Ron about it."

"He'd never let me hear the end of it, would he?" asked Hermione.

"Nope," said Harry. "But even if he did find out, I think he's going to be in for a much bigger surprise when he finds out about us."

"Not to mention Ginny," said Hermione.

"What about Ginny?" asked Harry.

The two of them stopped and looked at each other.

"You really don't know, do you?" asked Hermione and Harry just stared at her. "Well, I guess we know which one of us is the brains in this relationship."

Hermione then kissed Harry on the nose before walking off, leaving Harry standing there.

"What are you talking about?" asked Harry a moment later as he started to follow her. "And what's this about Ginny? Hermione? Come, tell me. Tell me. Please? I'll be your best friend if you tell me."

OoOoOoOoOoO

It was a few days later when Dumbledore found out that he had been wrong. The tide did not change in the war. It had completely ended the war.

The moment Harry and Hermione first kissed unleashed a power that had not been seen since Merlin had been alive. The Unspeakables within the Department of Mysteries would spend the next thousand years trying to figure out just exactly what had happened, for it would seem that the moment the two of them expressed their love, the connection Harry shared with Voldemort had broadcast the young wizards intense feelings to the dark wizard. A power so strong, it caused the dark magic that was holding him together to shatter. The magical backlash was enough to destroy everything within half a mile of Malfoy Manor, including all of the Death Eaters.

That summer, when Dumbledore would go to investigate the location he believed to be the hiding place of a Horcrux, he found the destroyed remnants of the ring.

It was with a joyful heart that on the night Dumbledore picked Harry up from the Dursley's, he found that the piece of Voldemort's soul in the faint outline of his scar was also gone, meaning that the dark load was banished for good.

He informed Harry and the Dursley's that Harry would not be returning to live with them ever again before taking Harry to spend the summer with the Granger's.

Life was good for everyone. Well, almost everyone. Mr. Ganger had many sleepless nights that summer due to him constantly getting out of bed to make sure that his daughter and her new boyfriend weren't sneaking into each others rooms.

The End

**A/N:** I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that has reviewed so far. I was actually really surprised by not only how well received the previous story was, but that a few of you requested that I actually continue it.

While right now, I don't have any plans to do so, I am keeping it in mind and writing down little notes on any ideas I come up with for it. That way, when the time comes that I do get around to writing it, I can hopefully live up to everyone's expectations.


	4. DH: Must Have A Library

**DISCLAIMER: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter. I don't.  
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**DH: Must Have A Library**

"I want you to have something to remember me by," said Ginny. "Just in case you come across any Veela while out on your little adventure."

The youngest Weasley closed her eyes and slowly leaned towards Harry, ready to give him the kind of kiss written about in fairytales. A kiss for him to how much she loved him.

Harry, seeing what she was about to do, pulled away from her.

"Ginny, wait," he said, causing her to stop and look at him with a confused look.

"What's wrong?" asked Ginny.

Harry ran a hand through his hair and he glanced around her room nervously.

"Ginny," he said. "I, um… We broke up, remember?"

"Of course I do," said Ginny. "But you said it was because you didn't want people knowing how you felt about me and using me to get to you. That when this was all over, we could be together again."

"I did say that," said Harry as he sat down on the chair at her desk. "And at the time, I meant it. I really did."

"What do you mean you by at the time you meant it?" asked Ginny, a slight edge to her voice. The same edge she had when Ron had tried to but into her life.

Harry sighed, knowing that there would be no easy way out of this.

"After I got back to the Dursley's and waited till it was time to leave, I spent most of my time thinking," said Harry. "About a lot of things. What I have to do in order to stop Voldemort. What I would do if I ever got my hands on Snape or Malfoy. And I also thought about us. And the more I thought about you and I, the more I realized that while I do like you, I'm not in love with you. I'm only in love with what you represent."

"What's the supposed to mean?" asked Ginny, her anger rising a little.

"Family," said Harry. "Something I've never had, but you have plenty of. The only memories I have of my parents are of the night they died to protect me. And Sirius… He was the closest thing to a family I've ever really had, and the time we actually spent together adds up to less than two months. Last year, I might have seemed fine after losing Sirius, but I wasn't. I was still grieving inside. I feeling the loss of what family I had left, which is why I think I was attracted to you in the first place. Because by being with you, in a way, I gained a family. Deep down, I knew what I was doing, but I pushed those feelings and thoughts aside, hoping that I make myself fall in love with you. Then everything would be alright. But thinking about it and looking back on it, I know I was just fooling myself and hurting you. And I don't want to do that. You're a great friend. I don't want to use you to try and make myself happy. Not when…"

Harry trailed off and went silent, unsure if he should tell her his other revelation from his thinking. Especially when she looked like she was about to hex him into the next century.

"What, Harry?" she asked, a little loudly. Her eyes starting to burn with anger. "Not when what?"

Harry sighed, realizing that he wouldn't be able to avoid her from finding out eventually.

"I'm in love with Hermione," Harry said.

Ginny just stood there, staring silently at Harry for a moment before she turned and looked out her window and watched as everyone set up for the wedding later that day.

She shouldn't have been surprised by what Harry said. Her dorm mates at Hogwarts had been saying for the last few years that they expected him and Hermione to end up together since they always spent time with each other. Especially after he ended his date with Cho Chang in order to see Hermione when she said that she needed him for something on Valentine's Day. Even the school beating pool had them listed as one day being together, which is why it had been such a shock to almost everyone when Harry had grabbed Ginny and kissed her that day after winning the Quidditch Cup for their house.

And yet, even thought she knew it could be a possibility that Harry would have feelings for Hermione, it didn't make her feel any better when it happened.

"Get out," Ginny said quietly as the tears started to run down her cheek.

"Ginny, I…" Harry started to say when she turned around and fired her Bat Boggy hex at him, though missed when Harry ducked out of the way at the last second thanks to his reflexes.

"I SAID GET OUT!" she shouted.

Harry quickly got up from the chair and ran out of her room, hearing the door slam shut behind him as he made his way downstairs.

Just as he was starting to head outside, an owl flew in through the window and dropped a letter in front of Mrs. Weasley.

"What's this?" she asked as the owl flew away.

Picking up the letter, she noticed the official looking seal from the Ministry on it and it being addressed to the parents of Ginevra Weasley.

Mrs. Weasley opened the letter and started to read its contents.

"GINEVERA MOLLY WEASLEY, GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!" Harry heard Mrs. Weasley shout from inside the Burrow.

With a sigh, he turned away from the house and headed into the apple orchard to find a place where he could be alone. The last thing he wanted at the moment was to be around anyone and have them asking questions.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"There you are."

Harry looked up to see the most stunning vision ever. Hermione Granger was standing there in a simple looking set of red dress robes that hugged her figure perfectly.

"Everyone has been looking for you," said Hermione as she looked down at Harry. "And Mrs. Weasley is very upset for some reason."

"Probably because I broke her little girls heart," said Harry as he looked out into the vast field of trees.

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione as she sat down next to him.

"I broke up with Ginny," said Harry.

"I know you did," said Hermione. "You did it right after Dumbledore's funeral."

"No, I mean I really broke up with her," said Harry. "When we ended things after the funeral, we had planned on getting back together when the war was over. But then when I was alone at the Dursley's, I realized things weren't going to work between us. I didn't plan on telling her like I did, but this morning when she dragged me into her room to try and kiss me, I had to tell her."

"Well, that probably explains the warning from the Ministry," said Hermione.

"What warning?" asked Harry.

"Underage magic," said Hermione. "One arrived about Ginny just as you were leaving the house."

"Yeah…" said Harry. "She, um… She didn't take it too well, obviously, and tried to Bat Boggy me."

Hermione gasped and said, "She didn't?"

Harry just nodded his head in response.

"I know Ginny can sometimes have a temper, but still…" Hermione said. "Oh well, you need to come back."

"Why?" asked Harry.

"The wedding," said Hermione as she stood up. "You know, the reason we're here today, all dressed up. It starts in half an hour and Mr. Weasley wants you to take some Polyjuice potion so no one can recognize you."

"Oh goodie," said Harry as he stood up. "I get to spend the rest of the day gulping down sludge."

"It's not that bad," said Hermione as they started to make their way back to the Burrow. "I think I might have done something wrong when I brewed it during our second year, because it looks nothing like what we used."

"Probably because we brewed it in an abandoned toilet," said Harry.

When the returned to the Burrow, Mr. Weasley handed Harry a flask full of Polyjuice potion, telling him it had the hair of a muggle from the nearby village with red hair, so Harry could pass off as a distant relative to the Weasley family.

Harry took a sip of the potion, expecting a lumpy sludge that tasted like sewer water, only to discover that not only did it taste okay, but had the consistency of a creamy syrup.

The wedding went fine, with Bill and Fleur bonding themselves to each other. Afterwards, during the reception, a Patronus message arrived from Kingsley Shacklebolt, informing them that the Minister for Magic had been killed and that Death Eaters had seized the Ministry.

Chaos ensued when Death Eaters suddenly attacked the wedding, with Harry, Ron, and Hermione escaping just in time and hide out at Grimmauld Place.

Over the course of the next month, the three of them found out what happened to the locket Horcrux and plan to sneak into the Ministry to get it back from Deloris Umbridge. During this time, Harry had noticed that Ron and Hermione were growing closer together. He should have been happy for his two best friends, but instead he felt sadness and regret that he had missed his chance with Hermione.

Finally, the day came when they snuck into the Ministry using Polyjuice potion and they managed to get the locket after confronting Umbridge while she was sentencing muggleborns to live in Azkaban. The three of them narrowly escaped from the Ministry, but unfortunately, they had to abandon Grimmauld Place.

The three of them lived on the run, staying in the magical tent Hermione had taken from Mr. Weasley, while trying to find a way to destroy the locket. Unfortunately, during this time in hiding, Ron started to grow more and more agitated until finally, one night, it all came to a head, and he abandoned Harry and Hermione, much like he had done during the beginning of their forth year at Hogwarts.

Hermione had been devastated by Ron leaving them. It had hurt Harry to see her crying when she thought he wasn't looking, and he wished he could do something to make her feel better. However, his own feelings prevented him from doing much more than trying to tell her things would be okay, mostly because he was afraid of her finding out how he felt and her telling him that she didn't feel the same way about him.

After that, it had only been the two of them, moving during the day and researching at night on how to destroy the locket.

Then one night, on Christmas Eve…

"I want to go to Godric's Hallow," Harry said.

"What? Why?" asked Hermione.

"Because, I think Dumbledore might have left us a way to destroy the Horcrux's there in case things went wrong," said Harry. "He knew I would want to go there, so he must have left something there for me. Anyways, even if he didn't, I still want to go because I…"

"You want to see your parents?" asked Hermione and Harry nodded.

"Alright," Hermione said. "Let's pack up and then we'll go."

After shrinking down the tent and storing it in her bag, Hermione apparated the two of them to the edge of Godric's Hallow, where they made their way by foot into the small village and towards the graveyard behind the church.

Standing in front of the headstone of his parents, Harry felt ashamed that it had taken him this long to come and visit him. While living with the Dursley's before he found out he was a wizard, he had believed his parents had died in a car accident while his father had been drunk. They had never said a kind word about his parents, so the chances of them ever bringing them here was nonexistent. However, in years since learning the truth, not once did he even think about coming here before Dumbledore's funeral. Not once did he think to ask Hagrid, Remus, the Weasley's or even Dumbledore to bring him to visit his parents' grave. And now, he hated himself because of it.

"Hi mum… Dad," Harry said, looking at each of their names cared in the stone in turn. "It's me… Harry… But I guess you guys probably knew that, huh. I'm sorry it's taken me this long to come and see you guys. I really don't have any excuses for why I haven't in the last six years. Before that… Well, I'm sure you know why… Um… This is Hermione, by the way. My best friend… We met and became friends on Halloween night during our first year at Hogwarts after I jumped onto the back of a troll that was trying to get her in the girls' loo… Halloween night… It seems so many life changing moments have happened to me on that night… It's like my own personal Friday the thirteenth…"

As Harry was talking, Hermione looked around and once she was sure that the coast was clear, she used her wand to conjure a wreath of flowers and placed them on the headstone.

"I'll give you a minute alone," Hermione said once Harry stopped talking for a moment.

He looked at her with eyes filled with unshed tears and nodded his head in thanks before she walked away with the intention of making sure that no one was spying on them or planning to ambush them.

Harry sighed at he stared at the ground.

"I wish you guys were around," said Harry. "I could really use your help… And not just with Tom. I… I just don't know what to do. I'm in love with Hermione, and I don't know what to do about it. I know she has feelings for Ron, but… I don't know. She means the world to me in ways I cannot even begin to describe. In all the time I've known her, she's always been by my side. Even when everyone else abandoned me, there she was. Helping me every step of the way. In all the years I've known her, we've only had two real arguments. And both times was because I was being stupid. Like in our third year when Sirius sent me my Firebolt. We all thought Sirius was trying to kill me then, and since the broom came without a card, Hermione thought he might have been the one to send it and that it was jinxed. And when I refused to listen to her, she told McGonagall about it and it was taken away to be checked over and made sure it was safe… I was so mad at the time, but looking back, I know she only did it because she was trying to keep me safe… God, I'm such a fool… I've had so many years to figure out how I feel about her and tell her, and by the time I do, it's too late.

Harry sighed again.

"I don't know… Maybe I'm fooling myself that I can actually be happy."

"Or maybe you're a fool for thinking that you can't."

Harry spun around, pulling out his wand as he did and pointed it at…

"Hermione?" said a surprised Harry as he lowered his wand. "How, uh… How long have you been there?"

"Long enough," said Hermione. "Is what you said true?"

Harry shifted around nervously. "I don't know," he said. "What did I say?"

"That you're in love with me," said Hermione. "Is it true?"

"What do you want me to say Hermione?" asked Harry. "That I love you? That when I think about you, I picture us married and a small house in the country with a couple of kids. That I can picture you trying not to act worried when I teach our children how to ride a broom for the first time, even though inside your ready to pull your hair out, yet you don't say anything because you know how much it means to me to be able to do it. That I know that when they get old enough to go to Hogwarts, every September first, I'll be holding you and letting you know they'll be okay because you miss having them around. That I can see us growing old together and seeing our own beautiful children get married and having families of their own. Is that what you want to hear?"

Hermione stood there, staring at Harry while she tried to process everything he had just said. Harry had just laid his heart on the line, and now it was up to Hermione on what to do.

"You really think about all of that?" she asked, taking a step closer to him.

"I do," said Harry.

"Good," said Hermione as she leaned in to Harry and gently pressed her lips to his. The kiss started out timidly, both of them afraid of what might happen. But soon, their love and passion for each other took over and their kiss began to heat up. Lips opened and tongues dueled for dominance in each other's mouths. For both of them, all that mattered was each other. All thoughts of Ron were banished from their minds.

Finally, air became a necessity, and they pulled apart.

"Just promise me one thing," Hermione said, resting her head against Harry's chest and he held her close, unable to believe what had just happened.

"Name it," said Harry.

"When we get our house in the country after this war is over, that it has a huge library in it," said Hermione.

Harry couldn't help but chuckle hearing her request. It was so like Hermione to say something like that. It was one of the reasons he loved her.

"I promise," said Harry as he kissed the girl he loved on the top of her head and held her close.

END

**A/N:** Sorry about the delay in getting this posted. I meant to have it up a few days ago, but the scene where Harry is talking to his parents just kept coming out wrong and I had to re-write it over and over again. Finally, this morning I got it just the way I wanted it.

I hope you all enjoyed it.


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